Diggin' Deeper
by raspberryseedz
Summary: A collection of Tiana/Naveen centric one-shots, all about discovering what you need. Moved from the Disney section.
1. Sleep

A/N: Disclaimer: _The Princess and the Frog_ and all its characters are owned by Disney. If you think I claim any rights to anything you are out of your mind.

Just a collection of short little one shots I'll hopefully be adding to from time to time now that I'm officially addicted to the Tiana/Naveen pairing. They are in no particular order, will probably shift from pre-movie to mid-movie to post-movie, whatever I feel gets my idea across I guess.

The first section is set the night before their frog wedding, the second is set between their frog and human weddings, and the third sometime after the restaurant has opened.

**Sleep**

**1.**

Naveen usually had no problems getting enough sleep. His mother used to joke that he could sleep through a war if he wanted to. However, this night was different, for some reason. There were no distractions, no noise, nothing preventing him from getting comfortable, he was just… anxious. Excited was probably a better word.

He was going to marry her tomorrow.

Of course, they still had to ask Mama Odie if she would marry them, but Naveen had no doubts that she would. She had first put the idea into his head, after all, and she probably already knew how much they'd been through, how close they had come to losing each other. And she certainly understood how much he needed her.

Tiana nuzzled her forehead, or what would be her forehead had she been human, deeper under his chin. He gave her a tight squeeze, relishing the sensation of her breathing against him as she slept. He wondered briefly what it would be like to hold her as a human, if he would ever get the opportunity to. And would he miss being able to hold her as a frog if it did happen?

He loosened his hold on her, pulling one hand away from her side to cradle the back of her head. Long strands of mucus stretched between her skin and his fingers, keeping them attached for a brief moment. He stared curiously at his hand and then rolled away from her slightly. The space between them was completely criss-crossed with a webbing of goo sticking to their previously touching skin. It was like they had been glued together as they lay there, only the glue was a substance oozing from their own bodies and pressing together into a sticky paste. It made Naveen smile.

He pulled her close again, glancing up at the sky, at Ray finally able to touch his Evangeline just as he was finally holding his. Neither of them had really taken his previous advice about settling down quickly. It was for the best, he was never one for giving good advice.

A yawn escaped him. He needed to get to sleep. Eyelids pulled shut, he relaxed his head against Tiana's and listened to the steady rhythm of her heartbeat until he drifted out of consciousness.

He was going to marry her tomorrow.

**2.**

There were very few instances that led to a remarkably silent Naveen. One of them, Tiana was discovering, was when he was tired, and not just slightly sleepy but physically and mentally worn out. The bus ride back to her home that was usually filled with his chatter had grown steadily more quiet as the week had progressed. Tiana watched his head bob as he struggled to stay awake. She leaned back in her seat and sighed.

This wasn't working. They had gotten a lot done on the sugar mill, sure, but Naveen wasn't really used to working this much. And he still insisted on riding home with her, despite the fact that he was still staying at the La Bouff's so he had to catch another bus back the other direction and wouldn't get to bed till late in the night. They needed closer living arrangements; it couldn't wait until they got enough for their own apartment. Her place was barely big enough for herself and her mother, they didn't have the space for all his stuff, and she couldn't fathom trying to stay at the La Bouff mansion, even if Big Daddy probably wouldn't mind. And it was petty of her but she could all too clearly imagine the flurry of gossip that would inevitably arise if they started living in the same place. They were legitimately married as far as she was concerned, but a swamp-side wedding between frogs probably wouldn't count for much among most people. The sooner they could have their human wedding, the better.

She felt a weight suddenly lower onto her. Naveen had dozed off and was now leaning against her with his head resting on her shoulder. She froze, afraid that if she moved she'd wake him. He was a quiet sleeper, for the most part. Every once in awhile he'd make a weird noise; something like a sigh mixed with a mumbled word. She wondered if he ever talked in his sleep, or for that matter, if _she _ever talked in her sleep. It was a strange thing, trying to imagine what you'd look like when you weren't conscious of anything.

He shifted a little in his sleep. She pulled her arm around him, circling back to entwine her fingers through his hair. Was he conscious enough to feel what she was doing? Was he aware that he was leaning on her, or was he completely lost in his own dream world? And what did he dream about? Far off places, maybe his homeland, maybe his mind stayed in New Orleans, in the city that he loved. Did people speak in his native tongue, or a smattering of all the languages he knew?

Was she ever in his dreams? And would she be her human self or her frog self? She supposed it didn't really matter either way.

The bus slowed to a stop. She shook him gently, wishing she didn't have to wake him.

"Naveen…"

"Hmmnnm..."

"This is our stop."

He rubbed his palm into one eye. "How long was I sleeping?"

"Only a few minutes, c'mon," she stood and pulled him up by the arm to join her. They walked out and into her house, just as they had done every night since they became human. She couldn't let this end like every other night, though. She couldn't let him get as sleep-deprived and worn out as she had let herself get over the years.

"Naveen…" he faced her, his eyes still heavy and drowsy. "I'm sorry I've been wearing you out so quickly," she said.

"You have not been wearing me out, I…"

She interrupted. "Naveen, I need you to stay here."

He paused, as if he needed time to let her words sink in. "Stay here?"

"I know the space is too small and I… I know what people will say, but… you… I can't let you keep goin' back and forth like this, and you shouldn't have to work so hard for something that I…"

He covered her mouth with his own, muffling whatever she had been about to say. She probably should've been angry he interrupted her, but something about the heated way he was kissing her made it impossible. He broke the kiss slowly and leaned his forehead against hers. "I will stay, Tiana." His fingertips reached up to brush her cheek, "I want to stay."

She realized she had been holding her breath and let it out in a rush. He laughed and pulled away just far enough so he could look her in the eye.

"I have worn you out this time, no?"

She laughed, surprised at how easily he'd turned the tables on her. "You're crazy."

"And you married me, dear Princess, which would make you…"

"… Even crazier. Believe me, I know." His eyes were hazy as he smiled at her. He still looked sleepy, but at least he was awake enough to banter with her a little. This could work. Anything that brought them closer than they were was bound to work.

He turned away to yawn and she tugged on his arm, leading him to the back of the house. "C'mon, crazy man. It's bedtime."

**3.**

"It is a strange thing," he began, strolling nonchalantly behind the back of the stiff-backed chair Tiana was sitting in, "but usually there is a pretty little lump lying on the bed that prevents me from rolling off, and tonight I cannot seem to find it anywhere."

Tiana rolled her eyes; she knew where this was going. "You didn't fall off the bed…"

"That is irrelevant. The point is that I _could_ have because you are still up doing… whatever it is you are doing." He bent to look over her shoulder at the complex list of numbers his wife was scrawling on.

"You know I have to finish this budget. Besides, I ain't even tired. You go back to bed, I'll be there soon."

He shook his head. "I am afraid I know you too well for that, Princess. You make these promises and next thing I know you are spending the entire night with your beignets and budgets and whatever else. It is rather disheartening."

"That's hardly fair, I only stayed up once, and I didn't promise you nothin' that time neither." She narrowed her eyes at him, as if daring him to contradict her.

"All the same, I am afraid I cannot get any sleep until you do."

She shrugged. "Then get comfortable, I'm gonna be here awhile." He sighed. She wasn't going to give in easily, apparently. He pulled a chair over and slumped down in his spot behind her. He gave her a few moments with her work, watching the loose curls at the back of her head sway as she scribbled. She was blinking too much, shifting and fidgeting too much. He knew her well enough to know she was more tired than she was letting on.

He brushed a loose strand of hair from the nape of her neck and started rubbing slow, small circles into her skin with his thumb. Her back instantly straightened. He laughed quietly deep in his throat and continued down her neck to the muscle at her shoulder.

"Naveen… is this really necessary?"

"Quite necessary."

"You sure? It seems to me more like a feeble attempt to distract me."

"Now why would I do something like that," he said coyly, including his other hand in the work at her back.

"This would go faster if you'd quit it," she said, still not attempting to shrug him off.

"I must amuse myself somehow, since somebody will not let me get to sleep."

"I told you y'all could go back to bed. I'm not tired yet."

"Of course you are not…" He drew each word out slowly, echoing deep and resonant in her ear long after he had said them. Her chest tightened. He was challenging her.

He saw her grit her teeth and tuck back into her work, determined to ignore him. He shrugged and continued his own work on her shoulders, working inwards toward her spine and then back out again. Slowly but surely, he felt the tension in her shoulders give way under his fingertips. Her body began to sag in the chair. He slowed his pace, his thumbs pressing deeper into her back in wide circles. She was beginning to bend away from him now, as if her head was too heavy for her neck to support, but she was still writing, albeit very slowly. They stayed that way for several moments, he diligent in his work and she growing steadily less efficient with each circle he traced into her back.

Finally, she dropped her pencil. She was bent so far over her forehead hovered a mere couple of inches above the table. Naveen took advantage of the moment and scooped her up out of her seat, one arm encircling her waist and the other cradling the crook of her knees. She flopped into his chest like a rag doll and groaned.

"I fell asleep, didn't I?"

"You did. I would say 'I told you so' but the last time I did that you tried to smack me."

She laughed a little and wrapped her arms around his neck, settling into him. "You're learning."

He kissed her forehead as he carried her back to their room. "As are you," he replied.

A/N:

*I know frogs probably wouldn't stick like that, but that shot of Tiana pulling at the mucus on her skin after she becomes a frog made me think of it ^^. I guess it is kinda gross and unusual but I still think it's cute.

*Even though the movie shows their human wedding before they buy the sugar mill, I can't help but think it happened afterwards. I mean it'd take more than a day to put a wedding like that together and Naveen's parents couldn't have just beamed themselves in from Maldonia, it had to have taken some amount of time. I also felt that they'd still have some kinks to work out in their work/play balance so soon after acquiring the sugar mill.

*You know Naveen massages her back on a regular basis ;)


	2. Security

A/N: The first section is set while they're hiding in the tree from that group of alligators, the second is just before Dig a Little Deeper, and the third is after the shadows hand frog Naveen over to Facilier.

**Security**

**1.**

They huddled in their separate sides of the hollowed out tree, as far away from the other as they could possibly get. Every once in awhile a scrape or a chomping noise could be heard from the gators outside painfully reminding them why they were stuck there in the first place. Tiana had drawn her knees up to her chest and Naveen was still nursing a bruised stomach.

"You kick hard." He accused.

She exhaled in a short, exasperated burst. "Serves you right."

He made a face that could only be interpreted as a pout. Of all the women in the world he could be stuck in a tree with, it had to be one who apparently liked to hit. How many times had she inflicted pain on some area of his person in the short time since they'd met? Granted, he probably _did _deserve that last one, but all he did was pull an arm around her. There were plenty of girls who would've gone crazy over that… but in a good way. And he hadn't tried anything inappropriate all those other times she'd dealt him abuse. What _was _her problem anyway?

"You smashed me with a book earlier," he reminded her, "and you tried to strangle me… and you hit me with your monkey. Did that also 'serve me right'?"

She shot him a hard glare. He glared back at her. "I was only trying to introduce myself, I was not doing anything you could consider inappropriate."

"A frog talking _is_ inappropriate." She said defensively.

He gave a short, condescending laugh. "Is that so? Well, waitress, perhaps I shall give you a kick and see how you like it, yes?"

"That's not the same… ugh!" her face twisted in frustration, "It's your fault I'm a frog right now!"

"Right. My fault. Like I forced you to kiss me knowing full well it would turn you into a frog."

"And if you kept your hands to yourself…"

"Hey, I am not the one throwing things and hitting people for trying to be polite! Maybe you should keep your mucus-y hands to yourself!"

She rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed sigh. They sat in silence, the incensed tension between them almost tangible. Finally, Tiana spoke.

"I'm…" she sucked in a breath and screwed her eyes shut, "I'm sorry I smashed you with the book."

His eyebrows rose expectantly. "And?"

"… And tried to strangle you… And hit you with that monkey." She glanced at him, her voice growing strangely softer. Then she quickly and forcefully amended, "But I am _not _sorry for kicking you!"

That was good enough, he supposed. He hadn't really expected her to apologize so quickly anyway. His offended gut was even starting to feel a little bit better.

"Very good." He said, stretching himself out against the curved wall of the tree trunk, "I am glad we understand each other." Something in his back popped and he relaxed with a sigh.

"Just what is _that_ supposed to mean?" She turned to fully face him, venom in her voice and daggers in her eyes. He froze. Had he said something wrong?

"Only that I am glad you've seen the error of your ways and that I accept your apology. It is much nicer than arguing, no?"

"Y'know it wouldn't kill you to apologize to _me_. You haven't exactly been a gentleman this whole time." He stared at her, blinking once but otherwise unmoving. "Even if it ain't intentionally your fault, I _was_ trying to help you and it _did_ turn out poorly for me. And there was no need for you to go on like that 'bout my being a waitress, or that philandering stunt you tried to pull just now…"

He blinked again. Nobody had ever even suggested he apologize for anything before. Ever. Well, except his parents, but they were supposed to suggest those sorts of things. And here was a no-count, cranky, abusive waitress telling him _he_ owed _her_ an apology? He didn't know whether to be indignant or shocked.

"Well…" her voice rose, his silence was obviously annoying her.

Perhaps it would be best to be accommodating. He could only imagine how annoying this woman was capable of becoming… or how angry. His mouth opened, words failing him at first, "I'm…uh…I'm sorry… what was that first thing again?" he asked.

"Ow!" he rubbed his arm where she had pelted him with an acorn. "Again with the hitting?" he exclaimed through clenched teeth.

"That's the last apology you're gettin' out of me, Mister."

**2.**

She stumbled backwards, webbed feet searching for stability on the thin rim of the tub. Heat radiated beneath her as she sank down, eyes clamped shut. Something soft but sturdy hooked under each of her arms and suddenly she felt herself rising. She tried applying a little weight onto her own feet but she misjudged the sloping surface and one foot slipped, yanking her down. The gumbo rose toward her, hot and bubbling. One arm had somehow slipped free of its protective hook for an instant, causing her body to swing. She kicked instinctively, stirring the hot air beneath her, searching for safe and level ground where there was none. Her arm was gripped again, much more securely this time, and she found herself closing her own hand around her rescuer's, desperate not to slip again. There was a small rush of air as she was pulled up and then; finally, her feet were gripping the cool, solid surface of the tub's rim.

She clung to Naveen's arm, still unsure of her balance. He rested his free hand on her back, steadying her. She glanced first at the gumbo she had only been a few inches from taking an unwanted bath in, and then up at him. Their eyes met for a moment, his slightly concerned and hers slightly stunned.

How many times now had he somehow managed to save her? Two? Three? After all they'd been through it was hard to keep track. And while a steaming bathtub of gumbo paled in comparison to being swallowed up by a heron or mauled by a team of alligators, it was no less substantial. She had to admit, for a lazy bump-on-a-log he was actually becoming pretty handy to have around. Sometimes. When he was actually paying attention to what was going on anyways.

But stranger still was that she even needed saving in the first place. She simply wasn't used to it. She wasn't used to slipping. She was always so focused, steady, sure that her goals would someday be reached if her diligence went unhindered. She never accounted for the fact that some outside circumstance might force her to slip-up anyway. She never had a back-up plan.

Just as she had fallen back on him now, just as he had pulled her out of the looming heat intent on swallowing her, she was falling back on him to save her dream. It was such a strange situation for her, she didn't know whether to be concerned he wouldn't follow through or relieved that she could depend on someone else to provide for her.

At least she could take comfort in the fact that whatever he'd manage to do for her wouldn't go undeserved. She had saved his life, more than once in fact; it was only fair that he'd save her dream in return.

Mama Odie's piping voice drew her attention away from the frog. "Y'all want to be human," she said, a bony finger gesturing in their direction, "but yer blind to whatchoo need!"

**3.**

"We are back in business, boys!"

Naveen kicked and wriggled helplessly in the witch doctor's bony grip. His hand was cold and clammy, barely an improvement over being dragged through the city streets, feeling nothing but rushing night air and the strange force that pinned his arms in and covered his mouth without actually touching him.

Facilier shifted the struggling frog to his other hand. Naveen threw an arm out, "Get your filthy hands off me!" he spouted angrily. He used his free hand to push against the vice surrounding him, struggling to free himself to no avail. Then he saw it, his valet, looming towards him with a wicked smile.

"La…Lawrence!" he exclaimed, his free hand now grasped by Facilier and slowly guided toward the trinket in Lawrence's hand.

"Hold still, Your Eminence," Lawrence crooned, the masked talisman opening its jaws in anticipation.

If the prick from the talisman's bite had hurt when he was a human it was probably twice as painful now that he was a frog and quite a bit smaller. He yelped and jerked his arm back, barely avoiding losing his entire finger to the trinket. Lawrence chuckled, watching the etchings on the mask turn red with the addition of the frog's blood. He placed the talisman around the plump roll of his neck, his form instantly shifting, gaining about a foot in height and losing about the same amount to his waistline.

Naveen's mouth dropped open at the sight of his face, his old face, glaring maniacally down at him with Lawrence's off-putting blue eyes. "Faldi faldonza…" he muttered, horrified. "You… That… that is sick and twisted!" he jerked in Facilier's grip, his frogmouth grimacing.

Facilier laughed. "In case you haven't noticed, Froggy Prince," he raised Naveen to his eye level, grinning, "I'm a sick and twisted soul." He then snapped at Lawrence. "What are ya waitin' for? Get dressed, we're already late!" Lawrence jumped in surprise and scrambled after a puffy white shirt.

"Late?" Naveen started in confusion. "I don't… what is going on here! I demand to know why you've stolen my, AH!" He was thrust, backside first, into a small wooden chest. He leaped just as soon as Facilier's hand left him, but the witchdoctor was too quick and slammed the lid shut before he could escape. Naveen was thrown back against the floor of the chest with a graceless thump. He tried again, hopping up against the curved lid with all his strength but it wouldn't budge. Something was shoved into the box's keyhole, obliterating what little light the box had allowed. There was a soft and definite click before the light was restored. He was trapped.

"We can't afford no more screw ups, Larry." Facilier's deep voice graveled, threatening. Naveen peered through the keyhole at his valet, now donning a floor-length red cape. What were they up to? _Another costume party?_

He scanned the room frantically, or rather the small section of the room the keyhole permitted him to see. He seemed to be sitting on top of a high dresser. Maybe if he knocked the box off in such a way, the fall would cause it to break open. Not a foolproof plan, he really had no idea if it could work, but he had to try. He shoved against the interior wall with his shoulder. Nothing. He tried again, desperation giving way to energy. The box wobbled. He collapsed with a grunt; this was getting him nowhere. He stared out the keyhole, considering the distance between his prison and the dresser's edge. Well, if pushing wasn't working, there was always pulling.

His tongue shot out of the keyhole, sticking decisively to the curving end of the dresser. Almost automatically, the chest slid forward with a small groan. He stopped just at the dresser's edge and peeked through the keyhole. He still couldn't really see what the box would be falling on, but it looked like a long drop. However he landed, chances were it was going to be painful.

He sucked in a breath. He had briefly considered trying this before when he had been trapped in that glass jar. He didn't have the courage to go through with it, and being horribly mutilated by shards of broken glass didn't really strike his fancy. He hated to think back on that situation and that all he had managed to do was to get lightheaded and pass out. If it weren't for that mysterious stroke of luck that something loosened the lid, he wouldn't have been able to breathe much less escape. But that was then. He was done waiting for other people to solve his problems. Not when he could do something about it himself.

He drew his tongue back into his mouth. The box teetered for a moment and began to drop.

"My friends and I will be close by, you just stick to the… _NO!_" Just as Facilier cried out, the box stopped falling. The impact wasn't forceful enough. He hadn't landed… he'd been caught.

It must've been one of the shadows that caught the box; Facilier and Lawrence were both too far away. Naveen pounded the floor with his fist, cursing them all in Maldonian. The box glided through the air and he was back in Facilier's hands.

"Much obliged." Faclier said, coolly. "Our naughty little frog is tryin' to hop away. High time he was punished, 'eh boys?" Naveen's stomach dropped. Facilier was obviously addressing his shadows, and he'd rather not think about what their concept of punishment was.

"What… what if we still need him?" Lawrence piped up in a timid voice.

"You reckoning somethin's gonna go _wrong_," Facilier shoved the box into Lawrence's chest, "Larry?"

"Oh, no no_ no_!" Lawrence fumbled to get proper hold of the box while Naveen tumbled inside. "It's just _if_ we need his blood again, it would be unwise to do away with him before the…"

A car honked accompanied by a high-pitched, "Oh, Naveen, darlin'!"

"Oh dear, it's Charlotte!" Lawrence took off towards the noise with the box under his arm.

Naveen could barely make out Facilier hiss, "You still have the frog, you simpleton!"

A/N:

*We don't see _where_ Tiana nails Naveen during that tree trunk scene but judging by the sound he makes I'd say it was somewhere in the gut area.

*I was originally gonna write a segment on the Frog Hunter's scene, but when I saw the movie again that bit where he catches her from falling into Mama Odie's gumbo kinda captured my imagination. Despite Tiana's thinking at this point, we all know Naveen doesn't save her dream so much as save her from the dream's overzealousness.

*I kinda wondered how Naveen ended up on the wedding float. Even if he is locked in a box wouldn't it have been less risky for them to leave him locked up at the LaBouff house or with Facilier? Maybe they just overlooked him escaping and creating a problem? Anyway, this is my half-baked reason why he ended up with Lawrence.

*The film doesn't make it explicitly clear if Lawrence knows/approves that Facilier was planning on killing Naveen. He couldn't stand watching him suffocate in a jar, so I highly doubt he'd want to be present while the prince's soul was fed to a group of demonic shadows… just sayin'.


	3. And All That Jazz

A/N: I don't want to jinx it, but this is probably the fastest update you're ever gonna get from me. It's not that I don't love you guys, really, I just have a lot going on ^^ I'd rather take my time and post stuff I actually kinda like than churn out a bunch of embarrassing drivels for the sake of updating. I'm betting most of you can relate.

And to everyone who's reviewed, thanks so much for the feedback! I really do appreciate it!

This is set sometime around _Down in New Orleans Reprise_, after the restaurant has opened.

**And All That Jazz**

You could put the playboy to work, but you could never really take the play out of him. Not that Tiana ever really wanted to, it was just an observation.

Naveen spun through the double doors to the kitchen and then back out again, holding two trays like the ends of a balance scale, one slightly higher than the other. He had turned waiting tables into a dance. A kind of improvisational dance where she could never really guess how far ahead he was planning, if he was planning at all. He took long, roundabout ways to get to where he was going, he dodged things, he skirted past obstacles, and yet he somehow managed never to drop anything. It wasn't the most efficient way to go about working, but then again Naveen never did anything efficiently.

He had a musical way of moving, she thought. Not at all direct and staccato, as she was, but more spontaneous and lilting, there was a certain rhythm to everything he did. He'd bounce a little when he walked, hanging still on one foot every now and then only to slide back into his pace. He had painted the walls of her Palace in long and short, syncopated strokes, the way a tap dancer brushes the plates of his shoes against the floor. Even now he slid up to a table in sequence with the slide of Louis' trumpet, setting a plate down with an accented note, perfectly on cue.

She sometimes wondered if he always intended to act that way or if it was merely so ingrained in him he couldn't help it. She suspected it was the latter. Part of what made him seem so jazzy was that he was always so spontaneous.

Louis dipped low on his trumpet, notes climbing sporadically higher and ending with an invigorating blare. Naveen had stopped to talk to few customers but his foot was still tapping.

Tiana smiled. Whoever came up with the word "jazz" must've been thinking of Naveen. So many meanings to the word and yet no singular phrase came close to describing him so well. He was relaxed, in an oddly energetic way. He went out of his way to make things interesting. He was enthusiasm and vigor and virility, all that. Even the vulgar part of it was in him, too.

"What are you thinking about?" He was walking towards her, a suspicious smile spread across his face. She straightened against the banister she had been leaning on. She wasn't sure what kind of expression her face wore, but he obviously found it intriguing.

"Nothing, really." She tried, lamely. He shot her a look that clearly said he didn't believe her.

"No, seriously, what were you thinking? I want to know." He slid up next to her, nudging her with his shoulder.

She gave a nod toward the band. "This music… it suits you."

His smile broadened, one corner of his mouth rising higher than the other. The music rose in a crescendo, the song nearing its end. He pulled her away from the stairs and spun her under his arm in time with the music.

"You must know this song well," she commented, swinging back into him. "You've been dancin' to it this whole time."

"Dancing?" He dipped her as the final, belted note of the song sounded. "In the first place, I have been hard at work all day."

Her mouth twisted into a wry smile. "And the second?"

She felt a rush as he pulled her back up again. "And in the second place, I have never heard this song before." She raised an eyebrow at him. "You see, waitress," he explained, voice rolling lower, walking her backwards until she was pinned between him and the banister. "Jazz is not something you do by thinking." His hand swept up her arm, lightly tracing her collarbone and coming to settle at her chin. "It's something you do by feeling."

Her skin prickled where he had touched her. Her heart raced, meeting the accelerated tempo of the drums, merging with the music the swirled around them.

"You ain't just talkin' bout music anymore, Mister." She poked him in the ribs.

"You are the one who said jazz suited me."

A/N:

*Apparently running a restaurant includes oogling your husband while coming up with weird metaphors xP Though I actually do think Naveen will habitually take a random break from working to go flirt with his wife. Her tolerance of it probably varies.

***Even the vulgar part of it was in him, too- **At one point, the word "jazz" was actually a slang term for sex. I believe around the 1920s it was still used to refer to either sex or the musical style (or both simultaneously, eh eh?). I fully intended to use both meanings here ;)

*Because I know ya'll are curious, I was listening to _Somebody Loves Me_ by George Gershwin and _Feeling Good_ by Nina Simone when I wrote this. Not that that's what Louis is supposed to be playing, it's just what I happened to be inspired by.

Return to Top


	4. The Pearl

**A/N:** Nothing much to say other than, sorry about the wait, and these two scenes are related, I swear.

**The Pearl**

"We've gone a pretty long ways," Tiana's gaze hovered at the pinkish orange of the dying sun poking through the densely clustered trees at the horizon. Naveen straightened a little from his position lounging across Louis' back. He hadn't even noticed it had gotten so late. "How much further is it, Louis?"

"Oh, uh…" the gator's head twisted slightly, shifting to survey their surroundings. "We ain't quite hit pricker-bush territory yet, Miss Tiana. I reckon we still got a ways to go."

Tiana groaned a little, pulling her knees up to rest dejectedly under her chin.

"Relax, Waitress," Naveen plucked a thread of spider web on his makeshift ukulele, running his opposite hand up its shaft to create a bright, glistening note sounding something like a slide. "Half the fun is in the journey, no?"

She glanced sidelong at him. "As _fun_ as this journey's been so far, I'd much prefer to being back to my old self in my old home with my old job, thank you."

"Ah, yes, passing out dinner plates to the masses must be thrilling…" His tongue rolled over the last "r", holding it a beat longer than necessary. "Y'know, Waitress, you are the only person I've met who would actually _miss_ their dead-beat job. Most people would find a day off drifting down this bayou to be a rather relaxing vacation." He improvised a short trill on the ukulele, emphasizing his point.

"I hardly think you're qualified to judge what "most people" would think of this situation, _Your Highness_." The title came out immersed in sarcasm. Naveen let out a small "humph" and laid back against Louis' leathery skin, strumming out another tune.

Was she always this annoying? Was there no conversation she could hold up without turning it back to work and sucking the fun out of it? She was like a pebble that got stuck inside your shoe, a splinter that wedged itself under your fingernail, a stick tossed aside into the mud. He sighed, shaking his head in bemusement.

"You, Waitress, are a rare brand of irritating."

"Irritating?" She straightened, her head snapped towards him. "This from the bum who's done nothin' but pluck nonsense all day…" She gestured emphatically at his ukulele.

"Hey, hey, hey," he put up one finger, "Do not insult _the jazz…_"

"Do not insult the waitress!" She snapped back, her hands clenching, looking for all the world like she wanted to strangle him.

"Hey, Naveen," Louis interrupted, "does that up there look like a pricker-bush to you? I can't tell." Naveen didn't hesitate to leave his spot on the alligator's back, hopping up once onto his head and then again, settling on the end of Louis' long snout. He shot his friend a smile, grateful for the excuse to put as much distance between himself and their irritable travel companion as possible.

"So, Tiana," the gator continued, eager to have everyone back in a pleasant mood, "is your restaurant gonna have etoufee?"

----- ----- -----

Within his chest, his heart hammered away, and it wasn't entirely due to the adrenaline rush of just barely ducking out of sight from the approaching, gun wielding shadows. She was _hugging_ him… sort of. Their arms were around each other at least, that counted as a hug. He wasn't even entirely sure how they ended up like that. One moment they were stumbling to get behind something and the next she was pressed against him, his arms reacting of their own will, pulling her so close her head dug under his chin and pushed up the side of his face. She was so close; undoubtedly she could feel his heart pound. He dared a glance at her. Her stunned gaze met his for an instant, only an instant, and then she pulled away.

He took an awkward step back, both relieved at the reestablished personal space and disappointed she hadn't held on for a little bit longer. He suddenly felt colder, emptier, his arms itched to pull her back into that embrace, embarrassingly out of control heartbeat be damned. His fists opened, his fingertips tapped together idly, needing something with which to occupy themselves. Ray flew into his field of vision saying something about Louis; he didn't really hear it, though. One arm reached over to hug his other, the empty feeling refusing to dissipate.

How was he supposed to show her that he was in love with her when he couldn't even hug her for more than two seconds?

He watched her as she hopped forward, demonstrating a grace as natural as if she had been a frog for years. When she turned towards him, the smile she gave him was glowing and warm. His heart skipped.

"Naveen, you comin'?"

The old need to look cool and collected knocked him back against the metal casing of their hiding place. "Oh, I'll… I'll catch up with you later."

That seemed to satisfy her and she bounded after the lightning bug, as happy as he had ever seen her. He stood there, still leaning against that metal wall, smiling at the doorway she had disappeared through. He wasn't sure why he had looked down a moment later, but when he did it caught his eye instantly.

It was a necklace, well, not the whole necklace but one bead, pure white and gleaming next to the remnants of an opened bottle. The whole deck was littered with beads but this was the only one in that color. It caught the light, bouncing it off the wire from the bottle's cork, making it shine like gold. He grabbed them both.

The other beads fell away as he gently pulled the white one free. It rolled a little in his hand as he studied it, the smoothness of it, the gloss of its surface sparking a familiarity. If he held it in such a way, he could almost see his face reflected in it, and his memory filled in hers, just the way her reflection curved over Mama Odie's pearl, transposed over the identical white of the bead.

This was it!

In the passing hours he busied himself with preparation. Someone had left a few cracked open walnuts at a table on the upper deck and he claimed one, both as an oyster shell and a ring box. He eventually made it to the roof, out of the way of prying eyes and careless walking shoes. It took several tries, but he finally got the wire to loop around his gem the way he wanted it. He twisted the last bit of wire, completing the circle he hoped would fit around her finger properly. He could always untwist it and adjust it later if it didn't.

He held up his finished ring, letting it catch the last rosy warm rays of sunlight before night completely overtook the sky. He had stared so much at it he could see her face clearly inside it now, almost as if she was staring back at him through that snow-white orb.

It was amazing how something once so irritating had suddenly become so valuable.

He carefully tucked the ring into its case. And over the smolder of the sunset a star began to twinkle.

-----

**A/N:** *If you look carefully at the background just before the whole Naveen-tries-to-eat-a-bug-sequence, the sky does have the pinkish glow of sunset, so I didn't just make that up for the sole purpose of this thing beginning and ending with a sunset. It was just convenient.

***Do not insult the jazz…-** I remember seeing a behind-the-scenes clip of Anika and Bruno recording those lines. The scene, or at least those lines, must've been cut, hopefully it'll show up as a deleted scene when the DVD comes out so we'll know how that conversation was supposed to go xD

*I don't know why I'm pulling all this half-baked symbolism out of this movie, but I really did make a connection between the bead Naveen uses as an engagement ring and that pearl Mama Odie shows the froggies during DaLD the first time I saw it. Pearls have a longstanding symbolic quality for their rarity but it becomes really fitting for these particular characters when you consider how pearls are formed… for me it did, anyways.


End file.
